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Before, the painting was in very poor condition. It had been rolled and crushed in the past with significant deformatio...Read more

After treatment, the painting has been conserved with a much improved appearance, stability and durability on public dis...Read more

Before, raking light reveals the slack canvas and the many deformations caused by previous folding and crushing of the p...Read more

After humidification, controlled drying on our suction table and lining, the paint and canvas layers are realigned, reto...Read more

Before, an area center bottom under raking light....Read more

After, the painting is now bright, clear and in plane. ...Read more

Before, an area bottom left under raking light showing the canvas folds and deformations after previous rolling and year...Read more

After, the deformations are removed and the painting image can be appreciated....Read more

Before, detail of area with dirt, accretions, deformations and paint losses. During treatment, showing half the painting...Read more

After, the area is cleaned, deformations removed and losses infilled and inpainted....Read more

Before, under raking light the severe deformations due to crushing and folding, and canvas slackness are apparent. ...Read more

Following cleaning and lining, the creases are gone and the small areas of paint loss are revealed and ready to be infil...Read more

Then, the paint losses are infilled into the small voids....Read more

After treatment, the fills have been inpainted discretely and varnish is applied. ...Read more

The large painting is dry-surface cleaned with a brush into suction using a backpack vacuum....Read more

Dirt, grime and a restorer varnish layer are cleared with solvents customized to the painting, the type of dirt covering...Read more

The painting has had the first round of cleaning at the left side, and is uncleaned at the right....Read more

To reduce deformations, the canvas is humidified and control-dried locally before overall relaxation of deformations....Read more

The owner and lab discussed the display location and decided that the painting needed a lining for support on display in...Read more

Our team of paintings conservators, stretches and tacks the painting to a new strong keyed basswood stretcher....Read more

Excess lining adhesive is carefully removed from the front of the painting under UV light to ensure no remnants are pres...Read more

Conservators work as a team to apply a thin brush layer of conservation varnish, required for this extremely large paint...Read more

Hundreds of paint losses are individually infilled under magnification and raking light....Read more

The conservator inpaints into the small infills....Read more

We inpaint only into areas of paint loss and not onto artist paint, to retain originality and value....Read more

After conservation, ultraviolet fluorescence shows the precise and discrete areas of inpainting into the many small pain...Read more

The painting is given final varnish with a conservation formula and solvents suited to the historic painting, and a UV s...Read more

The frame is cleaned and chips are infilled and inpainted....Read more

Cyrus Cuneo: Sir John Simpson on his tour of Inspection from the Hudson’s Bay to the Pacific Coast, ca 1910
oil on canvas, 92 1/4″ x 72 1/2″

Project Highlights

This very large early Canadian oil painting on canvas was in very poor condition due to years of public display in a City Hall.  There were thick layers of dirt and discolored varnish, cracks due to climate and blows, abrasions, dents and gouges.  In the past, it had been unstretched, folded, crushed and then attached to a weak replacement strainer.  The conservators cleaned the painting of all dirty and discolored layers, lowered the raised cracks permanently and brought the canvas into plane with a supportive lining to aid in withstanding display into the future.  The canvas was given a new strong stretcher.  Paint losses were stabilized and infilled/inpainted and the painting received a new conservation varnish with a UV stabilizer. The frame was cleaned and restored, including the title plaque.